The Winds of Willacy: Inside Texas’ Largest Wind Farm
The coastal gales of the Rio Grande Valley have helped rejuvenate this small farming community.
Featured Stories
The Latest
Opposition to Abbott’s Vouchers Plan Includes Conservatives
The governor crushed anti-voucher Republicans in the Texas House, but there are still plenty of party activists who are opposed.
Archives ⋆
Who’s Paying for Public School Vouchers? (1998)
“Somebody had to eat the first oyster.” With that salty metaphor, Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock makes the argument that elected officials shouldn’t be afraid to try new ideas—in this case, vouchers that would shift taxpayers’ moneys from public to private schools.
Opinion ⋆
AI Is Dead
A Texas author earned a certificate in AI—but there’s no way he’d ever use it to write a book.
Slowly and Painfully, House Passes $337 Billion Budget
The chamber deliberated until 3 a.m.
Reviews ⋆
Forgotten Crossings at the Edge of Texas
A new book from late author Richard Parker brims with El Paso pride, teasing out the small stuff that makes the city unique.
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Politics
Texas House Weighs How to Get Harsh on Hemp
Advocates and industry warn against bills that would ban or otherwise restrict many currently legal THC products.
House Committee Passes ‘Texas Two Step’ of Vouchers and Public Ed Funding
Dems could do little but sound the alarm on vouchers—and warn the $7.7-billion school-finance package is still not enough.
‘It’s About Censorship, Erasure, and Control’: the GOP’s Push for Parental Rights
It’s part of a new right-wing project to control public schools.
Border and Immigration
The Lawless Border Wall
The application of waivers and the interpretation of their scope has repeatedly expanded, such that border walls are now privileged over all potential legal constraints short of the U.S. Constitution.
Texas’ AI-Powered Surveillance Arsenal Has Ballooned. Proposed Laws Provide Few Guardrails.
Operation Lone Star has turbocharged DPS’ surveillance capabilities. Lawmakers say they want to prevent Texas from becoming a police state but have filed only modest legislation to regulate use of AI.
ICE Raids on Beloved Bakery Reverberate Through Rio Grande Valley
Homeland Security Investigations arrests at Abby’s Bakery shake up a small town in politically shifting Cameron County.
Culture
El Paso’s Still-Untold Story
A new revisionist history lays out an urgent task that it does not accomplish.
Texas’ First Black Woman Poet Laureate Spreads Poems of Praise
In tough times, Amanda Johnston is creating a community of gratitude with contributions from poets all across the state.
These Librarians Won’t Let America’s Fever Hit Fahrenheit 451
A new documentary shows us our local guardians of intellectual freedom in battle.
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